Realistic estimates and actual history put airframe and total crew losses for the Shuttle fleet at ~25 flights per vehicle as I remember, definitely no more tha

Realistic estimates and actual history put airframe and total crew losses for the Shuttle fleet at ~25 flights per vehicle as I remember, definitely no more than 35. The SSMEs needed total rebuilds before reuse, there were the obvious expendables, etc. etc. Spending more money upfront and wisely could have changed that, but once the turkey's design was set in stone its infrequent launches and insane operating costs (especially from all the staff who had to be retained no matter what the launch rate) were baked into the cake and turned it into a public works project. Certainly not something that demonstrated much about a market, given its insane costs/lb and severe restrictions on what it could loft due to safety reasons (e.g. no lithium batteries, Centaur booster canceled post-Challenger, etc. etc.).